TVXQ! THE 3RD ASIA TOUR CONCERT “MIROTIC”

TVXQ! THE 3RD ASIA TOUR CONCERT “MIROTIC” was the third international concert tour of TVXQ!, in line with their fourth studio album, MIROTIC. The tour marked the return of TVXQ! after performing the 2007-08 TVXQ! The 2nd Asia Tour Concert “O” and the final tour involving all five members of the group before the split-up. The tour commenced with 3 shows in Seoul in February 2009 and continued onto Nanjing, Bangkok, Beijing and Shanghai.

Background and Development

S.M. Entertainment first announced the start of the Asia tour with the show in Seoul on December 29, 2008. The show lasted for about three hours. Rehearsals took place on February 2, 2009 at Seoul Olympic Park Gymnasium. TVXQ! was supported by 11 male backup dancers in the tour.

About 26 songs were performed in each show. For the solo performances, Yoochun played the piano and sang a ballad version of “사랑 안녕 사랑(Love Bye Love)” from the repackage MIROTIC album. Jaejoong covered Deulgukhwa’s “그것만이 내세상(It’s Only My World)”, a song from 1985. Changmin performed one Christian cover song, which was “Upon This Rock” by Sandi Patty. “Xiahtic” was self-composed, written and arranged by Junsu specifically for his solo performance in this tour. SHINee’s Key, being a special guest, performed the rap for this song for the shows in Seoul, Nanjing, Beijing and Shanghai. In Bangkok, Yoochun took over Key’s part due to his inability to attend the concert. Yunho rocked the stage with an upbeat song of his own composition, “Checkmate”, throughout the whole tour.

In the introduction video, it began with the narration, “TVXQ! The 3rd Asia Tour Concert”, along with the sound of the sonar produced from a submarine. The spectators, i.e. the fans, were the people ‘on board’ the vessel. When reaching the bottom of the ocean, we see five figures rose from rocks. The camera panned above and foams of bubbles appeared and disappeared across the screen. Each appearance of bubbles under the sea revealed the members’ presence. As soon as their names were mentioned, the figures of the five members started to stay align in upright positions while the narrator proudly said, “We are Dong Bang Shin Ki!”. The frame ended with the members disappearing into the foam of bubbles and flowed towards the screen.

TVXQ! performing “인사” in Shanghai. Photo: S.M. Entertainment.

All concert staff and a total of 250 security personnel were injected for cardiovascular safety. The three-day concert was said to cost as much as 2.2 billion won (approximate USD2.2 million).

Over 70 million baht (approximate USD2.16 million) was invested for the two-day shows in Bangkok, with more than 20 million baht (approximate USD616,000) for the whole stage production and just about 10 million baht (approximate USD308,000) for the wide LED screen. There were about 100 concert personnel, including the TVXQ! members, and three 40-meter containers containing stage sets, production equipment, lighting and sound system flew from South Korea to Bangkok.

In Nanjing, the organizer in charge encountered counterfeit tickets from many fans before the start of the show but the tickets remained completely sold out.

It was initially reported that TVXQ! would be performing in Taiwan and Malaysia but the plans did not take place.

About the Stage

TVXQ!’s concert stage in Seoul. Photo: S.M. Entertainment.

The concert stage was designed like a cross with additional smaller stages. A main super wide LED screen measuring 50m x 6m was set up to show various animation and effects. There were also five smaller screens to show each individual members. Various pyrotechnics and laser beams were used throughout the show.

A stage direction including spotlights, which is composed of more than 310 circular fluorescent lamps and an 8-meter high lift were also installed. To ease mobility on the super wide stage, a moving turntable platform and a central stage with rotation circle were build. During “반달”, the boys were also seen hanging in the air through wires.

The stage setup for Beijing varied from the rest of the shows in other cities. The specially designed Beijing stage allowed fans to have a closer and short-distance interaction with the boys. All gadgets and machinery from the extended stage were moved onto the main stage to make it look layered and three-dimensional. The structure consisted of a 2,400 square metre gigantic sound and light castle. The organizer discussed and changed the stage structure and design five times. The extended stage was eventually removed due to safety purposes and allowed strong interaction with the boys.

The Beijing stage was said to be much wider and bigger than the one in Nanjing.

TVXQ! changed into 30 different sets of costumes in each show.

Conflicts and Cancellation of Shenzhen Show

Promotional poster for Shenzhen concert. Photo: S.M. Entertainment.

In July 2009, Junsu, Yoochun and Jaejoong applied a provisional disposition to terminate their exclusive contract effect with their agency, S.M. Entertainment, in the midst of their Asian tour.

A promotional concert poster for the Shenzhen, China concert was surfaced on the web in September 2009 despite Shenzhen wasn’t part of the original tour and no announcement had been made before. After wrapping up the concert in Shanghai in October, TVXQ! was soon reported to be performing in Shenzhen for their “last concert in China” the following month. The ticketing agency for the show, Damai.cn, had already sold tickets starting on the 5th of October and received advanced sales.

On November 13, 2009, the organizer announced the cancellation of the show through a press release, saying, “Since the trio [Junsu, Yoochun and Jaejoong] of TVXQ! had refused to attend the show, Dreammaker Entertainment Limited cannot continue to execute the performers’ contract with us. We are now officially declare that the Shenzhen show has been cancelled.” The fans, who had purchased their tickets, were able to refund their purchases the following week.

The trio then revealed the reason for the refusal to perform in Shenzhen was because, “S.M. Entertainment refuses to reveal the contract details.” A representative for the trio stated that the agency announced the Shenzhen show only after the three members had filed the lawsuit and that Shenzhen was also not part of the original tour list.

Broadcasts and Recording

In one of the shows in Seoul, several scenes and performances were filmed and released on web as a 9-minute clip by Sohu Korea on March 5, 2009. Later on May 30, 2009, the Japanese broadcasting channel, TBSch., aired several performances that were recorded professionally by the production crew of S.M. Entertainment from the 22nd February concert in Seoul. The performances that weren’t in the broadcast were “낙원(PARADISE)”, “무지개(RAINBOW)”, “하하하쏭”, “Sky” and the five solo performances. The footages that made it into the broadcast were the eventual final cut for the concert DVD release.

An official tour photo book was released on April 2, 2009 and it includes 192 pages of photos taken from the shows in Seoul. The photo book is sorted into five different parts, where each part of the book are images taken from a few performances. A detachable special bonus booklet is included in the package, which consists of behind the scenes and rehearsal photos, as well as printed handwritten messages from each TVXQ! member.

The shows in Seoul were recorded into a live CD and a DVD, which were sold separately. On July 31, 2009, the live CD that was recorded from February 20 to 22, 2009 was first released. It is accompanied by a 28-page color booklet consisting of concert photos and lyrics of the songs that were performed. Avex Taiwan released a Taiwanese edition for this album on August 21, 2009, which came with a folded leaflet of Chinese lyrics. The Philippine release was announced in December 15, 2009.

TVXQ! posing for poster photo shoot. Photo: SBS.

The DVD was sold on December 30, 2009. It was released as a 3-disc DVD, where disc 2 includes concert rehearsals, backstage and interview footage. The second theatrical drama of TVXQ!, Dating On Earth, was released in the third disc along with deleted scenes and outtakes. The DVD set came with a 68-page color photo book and five pieces of bookmarks. The Taiwanese and US editions were released on May 7, 2010 and December 27, 2011 respectively.

A 3-minute clip of the concert poster photo shoot scene was filmed and released in the fifth disc of the 6-DVD ‘All About 東方神起 :: Season 3’ documentary on August 14, 2009. In the same month, S.M. Entertainment released the official music video for “Are you A Good girl?” containing montages and various captures from the shows in Seoul.

Reception

The red ocean in Seoul. Photo: S.M. Entertainment.

TVXQ!’s February 20th show was sold out in six minutes while the 21st show in five minutes after the start of sales with both more than 10,000 seats being sold out. The ticket sales in Nanjing managed to exceed 10 million within 3 days and the Beijing concert tickets were sold out in a week.

Economy experts revealed that foreign fans had to at least spend 2 million won (approximate USD1,962) per person for the Seoul concerts which made it 4 billion won (approximate USD39,248) in total for 3 days and 2 night hotel charges, concert tickets, plane tickets, other accommodation, transportation, phone charges and official concert goods that were sold.

Approximately 2,000 people attended the three-day Seoul concert including fans from Japan, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam. Most hotels in downtown Seoul were fully booked as most Japanese fans attended the concert. The Ramada Hotel & Suites in Namdaemun revealed that more than 300 Japanese customers booked a reservation for 200 of its rooms.

During the first two days of the Seoul concert, swimmer Park Tae Hwan, actor Yeon Jeong Hoon and famous model Kim Young Kwang attended while singer Lee Hyori and SS501’s Kim Hyun Joong also visited the concert on the 22nd. Yoon Jong Shin, Son Dam Bi, Jung Hyeong Don, Go Ara, and Super Junior were reported to be seen sitting on the VIP guest section. Other stars including basketball player Yang Hui Jong, model Lee Hyo Jae, Park Ji Bin, and Justin Timberlake’s choreographer, Nick Bass, were spotted among the audience.

The concert DVD’s backstage clip showed some of Super Junior members including lead member Leeteuk, Siwon, Kyuhyun, Eunhyuk, Donghae, and Girls’ Generation’s Yoona visiting TVXQ! in their dressing room after the first show in Seoul has ended. On the following day, SHINee and Girls’ Generation’s Taeyeon came to cheer and support their fellow labelmates.

TVXQ! received an overwhelming standing ovation from all 20,000 fans for 10 minutes at the end of the show in Nanjing as it was the first time TVXQ! ever performed a show in that city.

Chart Success

The live album peaked the weekly chart at the 5th spot on Gaon Music Chart for the week January 10-16, 2010. In the 35th week of 2009, 7.63% of the Taiwanese live CD editions were sold across the country and was at the 2nd spot in G-Music Chart.

The Philippine release of the live CD debuted at the 3rd spot in two of the country’s biggest record retail chains, Odyssey and Music One. The charts were based on the total sales recorded from more than 50 Odyssey stores nationwide and Music One’s outlets in Glorietta, Greenbelt and Quezon Avenue from December 14 to 20, 2009.

Impact

“Xiahtic” and “Checkmate” were later released in Japanese as B-sides for the 29th single BREAK OUT! and 30th single 時ヲ止メテ(Toki Wo Tomete), respectively in 2010. BREAK OUT! was released in Japan on January 21 while 時ヲ止メテ(Toki Wo Tomete) on March 24 as the last release of TVXQ! as a five-member group.

“Checkmate” was sung in the 10th episode of Yunho’s 2009 MBC drama, 맨땅에 헤딩(No Limit!). The episode was aired in South Korea on October 8, 2009.

everysing held a memorial event in conjunction with the concert tour from February 20 to March 5, 2009. The ‘東方神起 Gallery’ was opened to showcase unreleased photos from their fourth album MIROTIC, ‘History of 東方神起’ to display album covers since their debut, a room decorated with TVXQ!’s pictures and video messages in ‘東方神起 Room’, and a variety of ‘東方神起 MD’ official merchandise were sold including commemoration goods and everysing’s special products.

Additional Notes

Key from SHINee performed the rap for “Xiahtic” in Seoul, Nanjing, Beijing and Shanghai. Yoochun took over Key’s part in Bangkok.

Concert Goods

Seoul concert goods. Photo: S.M. Entertainment.

Seven official merchandise were sold in the Korean leg and that included commemoration T-shirts, bromides, stamp sets, mobile straps, card cases, water tumblers, and souvenir dishes. In addition, there were also cookie sets by everysing, light sticks, flags, and surprise goods of both hairpins and key chains.

For shows in other cities, S.M. Entertainment introduced a different variety of merchandise from the ones in Seoul.

Gallery

Concert Posters

The TVXQ! members look sleek with dark tailored suits, which complement their masculine features. With all of the members wearing similar outfits, it gave emphasis to each of their individual hairstyles. The simple silhouette of their clothing is enhanced with deep colors and smooth textures. They all look neat and polished with leather shoes which, brought all their outfits together.

Their background is plain and bare in contrast to their dark outfits. All have serious expressions that showed their unique personalities and charisma. To sum it all up, the whole concept is simple but elegant. It is interesting and intriguing in its own way.